Every year, hundreds of imprisoned writers from around the country submit poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and dramatic works to PEN America’s Prison Writing Contest, one of the few outlets of free expression for the country’s incarcerated population. Manuscripts come to the Prison Writing Program in a variety of forms: Some are handwritten, some are typed, some are written in the margins of legal documents. Prizes of $250, $150, $100, $50, and $25 are awarded for first, second, third place, the Dawson Prize, and honorable mentions, respectively, in each of the following categories:
Poetry
First Place
Second Place
Third Place
Brian Maddock, “Knotty Dreams”
Dawson Prize
Mike Owens, “Black Settlement Photo: Circa 1867”
Honorable Mentions
Henry Daniels III, “Appraisal”
Harlan Richards, “Forgiven”
Fiction
First Place
Robert Weaver, “The Blessing of Jebidiah Goodytake”
Second Place
Third Place
Jonathan C. Rosenbloom, “Chatat”
Dawson Prize
Cary Lynn Nichols, “Silent Chatter”
Honorable Mentions
Thomas M. Fox, “Monster in the Playground”
Christopher Zoukis, “Jesusland”
Memoir
First Place
D. Ka Lani Raposa, “A Fine, Fine Day”
Second Place
Third Place
Yvette M. Louisell, “How to Survive in Prison”
Dawson Prize
A.C. Bellard, “Walk Like a Man”
Honorable Mentions
Rogelio Gutierrez, “Judgment Walk”
Jose L. Di Lenola, “The Years In Between”
Josh Tanaka, “To Eat or Not to Eat, That is the Question”
Essay
First Place
Thomas Bartlett Whitaker, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Second Place
Joseph Dole, “Juvenile Adults”
Third Place
Robin Ledbetter, “Laying Roots”
Honorable Mentions
Richard Allen Appleby, “I Hear the Train Comin…”
Lee Charles Daniels, “Criminal Injustice”
Charles P. Norman, “That’s the Way It Is in Prison”
Drama
First Place
Robert Weaver, “The Secret of Sky, Act 3″
Second Place
Christopher Zoukis, “Healing Bin Laden”
Third Place
Loren Ivory Morgan, “Midnight Phantom (Part III): Lilith Anacrusis or The Vampire”
Dawson Prize
Christopher Myers, “Sophocles in LA”
Honorable Mentions
Joseph Allen, Jr., “A Whimsy of Insanity”
Bill Huffstutter, “Painted Little Lady”